if IRMO= 135111 . ID 155 844 CS 004 .113 ,* , , .!- AUTHOR, *' Abrahamsoi; Richard P. TITLE -They-fro Reading the Serifs Books So Lets: Use Thes;', or, Who Is Sham Cassidy? - ------ PUB BAIR, .Bay 78 I ROTE 17p.; Raper preheated at the innuel Meeting of thir International Reading,AssOciation 123rd; Mount**, 9 - Texas, Ray,1 -5, 1978) I -RDRS PRICE 'BF-10.83 HC -&1.67 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adolescent Literature; *EnglishInstructibig- *Learning Activities;Litits=i-tioi-sap--*Litarary N\ Perspective; Literatuie,App ion; *Reading IntereSts; Reading Bateriall; reational Bending; Senior Sigh Schools; Not atioe , IDENTIFIERS Series Books ;. ABSTRACT 4 Concerned with the need to=atimulate readiag Flamers fotolder adolescents, this documentcutlinee a high school reading uiit that capitalises on the perennial popuIirity of sesits bccits .such as Nancy Drpw, the Hardy Boys, and Tom Swift. Suggested' activities include having students reflect cn thoir.personal reading and write a fictional sketch about a favorite author; research a, : 'series author to discover the multi-asthoi-ttprcach of the series books; compare older versions. with newer revised books tc uncover sexiia, rapism, and stereotypes; -and stilted dialogue, one -, dimensional characters, and formula writing. The study of the series bookcan be extended to include the serial dine novels cfthi 1800s with their heavy moralising, poor characterisation,and--ritunted dialogue, ore historical approach to, the authorlioratio-Alger and his rags-to-riches novels, set in the later 1800e. (HI) / sii****************01**4scogeorn"***** * .Reproductions supplied by !DRS are the best that can be made / * . so, from the original docenent./ 1 * .) colosess*****mosmossoloscolossiosolossostmoshcolls ****scolcomos** p ea 114111011IPIT Of WEALTH 1110111KATIONS NAtIONAL 11STITVLII OP IDUCATIOR nos ooCusalw wAs seesREPRO mice° exam'. AS secemeo Foos OS .40,- TO4PUMPS0111ORGMIRLA AT980 IT POINTS OR VISE OR OPINIONS state° 00 war plecessAlotor SEW OfKIAL,NATsoNALorsirruie cis gaucancil poillscee OR POLICY THE 'RE READING THE SERIES BOOKS 50LT'S USE. THEM; OR, WHO IS SHAUN CASSIDY? C "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS Alor. Richard F. Abrahamson MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Department of Curriculum and Instruction Richard F. College of Education Abrahamson Univers4ty of Houston TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES f Houston, Texas ,77004 INFORMATION SEWER (ERIC) AND USERS OF THE ERIC SYSTEM " NOY A pier ,presented at the IRA 1978Convention in -r Houston, Texas. 'This 'paper was presentedas part of a symposium entitled "Adolescenetiterature from Tom Swift to I' Am the Cheese.". (.. I I ; in . N L , 1\' ..- . S . =, '.1 . .. 4%3 -1 0 ." . , . .. 't , - ?"'" I r THEY'RE READING THE SERIES BOOKS SO LET'S USE THEM:* OR, WHO IS SHAUN CASSIDY? - sh RecentlyI was in Kansas-Gity for a reading- convention. I had a chance'' to =listen to such peoPlas Bill Martin, Jr.,-KennethGpodman, Donald DurreW, BiT1 Durr, Co Fay, Ed Fry, Jerry Weiss and the toppingonthiscake of fine_ speakers was poet/author/entertainer Maya Angelou. It was, to say the least,_ an exciting time andia stimulating experience. _ , ... .. On the last day ,of ,the convention, I went to breakfastwithjafriend rotmine . , .. on the faculty at the University of Missouri- Kansas City. Whenshe let me off , , k. I back at my hotel, the convention centerwas simply jammed with. thousands of cars and people. 414 Lines of people circled both large conventioncenters. Obviously, .1 decided, I must have missed the final .readingconvention highlight. Maya Angelou had_ attracted perhapstwo.thousandpeople anO,Bill Martin- about' the-Same, Mit there were tens of thousands of peoplehere now and many were elementary school and junior high school students with their parents. Was it Stie Hinton-or Richard Peck I wondered? Was someone about to annovnce a new / readability forma? Was Isuppose to be speaking'and no one had mentioned it ,to me? I enteredthisjlobbyof my hotel and saw,Maya Angelou and several of theother .major speakers get out of the elevator. Is this what eVeryone had en waiting for? No'one ern noticed these convention speakersas they quietly -stood in /-* .liqe to pay their hotel bills. I couldn't stand-it any more so I turned to a . pafticularly intense junior high school student who:wasleading her mother .to-, . wards the great throng of people. I directed, my question to the girl. "Excuse me: ;What's going ori?" I stammereti. She looked 'directly throw* me towards 3 1 -a 6kRIES BOOKS/2.' the auditorium apb screamed. ---' 17- . "He's in there! Ofil,"Gbd, he's. in there!" People were lbIcing at us and I turned away in embarassment. But then I thought, if indeed this is the.second coming, do I want to be' caught-turning away in embarassment?fly young friend was now crying so I turned to {per mother.Luckily she do pity onnbcignorance, "Don'tyou know?* she said with a mixture f-dis4ust and pity. "Shaur, . , Cassidy's jnside. I stood scratching my he d,as i if she was'pulled by,her crazed, and crying daughter. % NOW,I can't imagine thdt there are those' ofyou who work with youngsters. who \ . have po become acquainted with th, teenage phedbmenon ofShaun Cassidy but if /---, . his name doesn't ring abellbe's the son ot,the late actor Jack-Cassidy and , .; thebroiNer of anotherteenage'superstar, David CasSidy. 4%' % At this point sane of you may. well ask, what Wis to do with Tom "Shrift, -- the series books, and adoeescent'reading? $i!ly, Shaun Cassidywa's catapulted to fame with his starring roe as one of the Har s in the new TV series seen on nights, "The Adventures ofliancy Drew and theHardy Boys." Those of us concerned with what youngsters enjoy reading now that Nancy , Drew 'and Tom Swift and Cherry Ades and Frank and ,Toe Hardy havevery often .been ..--, . an iTgortant part in the creation of'"lifetfme".readers. What is somewhat . , . , worrisome tome is that all too many teachers recall with obvious enjoymeht their . , experiences with these books and yet do mOt allow theirown studerits-to read the books because they lack some/hing called "literary merit."' % In thinking back on my own reading life, I could wish nothing better fora youngster in myhome or classroom than the intense.pleasure I eiPerienced-inmy . own reading of the series books in 'a time in my reading life that/has, cometo . , . .----_--- -e-- .- -.., _ t - 1 be known as the Unconscioui-4fight stage, reading. I was a devious reader and a conniving child. In the Newt England town. where Igreit up, the- local Woolworth's storehad an entire corner devoted to the series books. Wednesdays after school meant an afternobq visit to Woolworth's 4 A 4 * SERIES BOOKS/3 withra friend. It war fun goipg alone because part of_the'delightwas proudly lettivg your best frtria know-that you had-read volumes -17 Ofthe Tom Swift series while he had toclerssto only readi'0,1.:7. But the most important part of Wednesday for me Was looking at thecover and reading the last page in the .. 'next book in the seties. In today's reading jargon, this was perhapsmy pre- reading exerciseWithout-theworkbook pages: _ rsday nights my fathergot.paid andour ritual was-to go downtown, cash 0 ck, pay somybillsi and finally I'd lead_him tb Woolworth's.,Our game was aj,s the same. "There's a really good bookover here, Dad.". A "Haven't you read all of ose yet?" he'd say. "No, I've got 18 more to go!" .This was always Saidwii excess exuberance 9 - -?f t' ant a,tonSciousattenvit o open u' eyeswide'Cidnot blink. Was there evey, a- , father who,couid res.4 such intellectual curiosity 1na ari?, sad{. "Just remember, young man, money doesn't grow on trees.' I heard_tHat message of money and trees through'every book in the Tom . Swift series. Once we got home, the book had to'behidden, especarly frommy mother who . case home fromher bwn Sob about 9 p.m. You see, she cAhed,her pay check on, Friday nights and if she knew4hat my father had boughta book for mean Thursday night, I'd never get her to buy me oneon Friday. We had our own Friday night ritual similar to the one I went through 'on Thursday. The' only diff rehce was that Ihad her buy me a mystery series that chronicled the adventOres of one Tom Quest. It's trueI managed two series at one time. Saturdays I &pent" on the tell tale'scar adventures of Tom Quest And Sundays were for Tom Swift. It never dawned on that when I placed my two newly read books on the'shelf next to the others th t.my parents Might be wise enough tosee my collection .growing by two books per Week instead qf one. I loved that time in my reading life and while I'm not terribly'Proud of conning my pirents (if indeed that's what I did), Iam prgud-that I conned them r . SERIES 11001($14... - `out of money for. books hot for hula hoops, Cigarettes:and ` -S.. , Davy Crockett 4; . .di coonskin hatst, A literary . c ic I - , -recently best describeshcmLI ---------- felt about'this Unconscious .- Delight stage when shesays of her own series book , reading that ifwallikelitIiig down in a comfOrtable chairWitica bag-of hard , . candy and gettiAg -?"-/. up three years,later. .. - . - /' .. Mi pi-imary . 5-/ point in rel.ating thisstory is to get you to remember the - , . Unconscious Delight periodin your . ading life.. Secondly, to realize tha,- ... t_ . as much as some teachers and some librarianscondemmithese bodks:youngsters still read them withenjoyment and total abandon. And mpf third point inrelating my own experience with the . series books is to bringus back to Shaun Cassidy. For-a long time, those of us dealing with adolescentreaders haVe'reatized ' the dffects of media on-what teenagers read.